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In 2012 I was discharged from chapter 7 bankruptcy, so to rebuild my credit I got a secured credit card through Capital One. I got an offer in the mail from Capital One to sign up for their Quicksilver card, so I decided to sign up for it, and I was approved. I rarely use my credit card as it is (I make small purchases and pay it off every month), and I don't want to be one of those people that carries a ton of card, but at the same time I want to keep improving my credit since I am planning on buying a house, so should I keep the secured card or close it? Another benefit to closing the secured card is I would get my deposit back, but I get that back anyway after 12 months.
In a related story, I bought furniture on credit when I moved, and I will have it paid off in a couple of months. I don't see myself buying any new furniture for a while, so should I close that one as well?
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Since you're planning on buying a house then you should keep them open. Like you said, the secured card will unsecure and you'll get your deposit back, so, keeping that card open isn't hurting you. You don't have to use any or all of your cards on a monthly basis, using them at least once every 2-3 months is enough, if you don't like using them that often.
Keep it. Buy something and make a few payments. This will start showing in your credit as on time payment record. You need to show on time regular payments. You don't need to charge a lot. Just something basic that you can pay off at any time
1) When there's an annual fee that doesn't cover the benefits the card provides
2) When I need to reduce my credit limit with a particular bank to get a different card (Citi is probably going to force me to do this since they don't want to give me another $30k limit card but I don't want the high utilization rate caused by a low limit)
Since you're not running into either of those situations, keep the cards open. Sign up for creditkarma and check in once a week or even just once a month. It'll let you know if something suddenly gets charged to a previously unused card. Beyond that, it only helps.
Keep the cards, only close the furniture card if you wish to once you have gotten another decent rebate card such as Discover IT card, so you can get back 2% you spend on gas and supermarket and also get your free FICO score each month.
Use credit cards for purchases you have to make anyway and set the cash aside to pay them off each month, that way you can build up your credit by spending what you are normally spending in cash.
Also you can use cards to pay some of your monthly bills on autopay such as cable, cell phone etc and pay them off each month, that too will help build your credit.
Keep the cards, only close the furniture card if you wish to once you have gotten another decent rebate card such as Discover IT card, so you can get back 2% you spend on gas and supermarket and also get your free FICO score each month.
Discover IT pays 5% on quarterly rotating categories. One of those quarters is usually gas (like right now) and another is usually grocery stores. For the rest of the year you can max out cap for that quarter on gas gift cards (from a gas station or convenience store selling gas) or grocery store gift cards to extend the bonus throughout more of the year.
On non-bonus categories, IT pays 1%. Other then a weird Shop Discover deal, IT doesn't pay 2% on anything.
Discover IT pays 5% on quarterly rotating categories. One of those quarters is usually gas (like right now) and another is usually grocery stores. For the rest of the year you can max out cap for that quarter on gas gift cards (from a gas station or convenience store selling gas) or grocery store gift cards to extend the bonus throughout more of the year.
On non-bonus categories, IT pays 1%. Other then a weird Shop Discover deal, IT doesn't pay 2% on anything.
There are two IT cards, one that pays 2% on restaurants and gas and the other with rotating categories, I now have the first one that I use at restaurants. This one for Students but also for others since I am retired and obviously not a student. People have to pick which one fits them better, I hate having to bother with changing categories so I switched to this one. Whoops I see I wrote supermarkets in the last one, I was thinking of my old card, this one is just gas and restaurants.
Quote:
2% CASH BACK
Double your rewards at gas stations and restaurants with 2% cash back on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter
1% CASH BACK
Get non stop cash back every time you use your card. Earn 1% cash back on all other credit card purchases.
There are two IT cards, one that pays 2% on restaurants and gas and the other with rotating categories, I now have the first one that I use at restaurants. This one for Students but also for others since I am retired and obviously not a student. People have to pick which one fits them better, I hate having to bother with changing categories so I switched to this one. Whoops I see I wrote supermarkets in the last one, I was thinking of my old card, this one is just gas and restaurants.
Thanks for pointing that out. I'd never heard of the student version. It doesn't look like that one gets 5% on the rotating categories though. With the higher caps ($1500 vs $1000) and the gift card strategy I mentioned, I really wouldn't consider the student card even if I could get it.
Thanks for pointing that out. I'd never heard of the student version. It doesn't look like that one gets 5% on the rotating categories though. With the higher caps ($1500 vs $1000) and the gift card strategy I mentioned, I really wouldn't consider the student card even if I could get it.
yup the one you have is better, I am just too lazy to work at making extra, I am happy with the 2% I get on that and my Fidelity AMEX, I find it to be like found money and most of my charges go on the Fidelity card but your way would definitely make more money.
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